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BIRDS OF AMERICA 



HENSLOW'S SPARROW 



Passerherbulus henslowi henslowi (Audubon) 



Other Name. — Henslow's Bunting. 



General Description. — Length. s'A inches. Upper 

 parts, chestnut, black, and white, mixed ; under parts, 

 whitish. Bill, stout ; wing, short ; tail, not longer than 

 wing, and graduated. 



Color. — Adults: Head and neck, buffy olive, the 

 crown heavily streaked, except along center line, with 

 black, the hindneck, more narrowly streaked ; back 

 and shoulders, chestnut, the feathers black centrally 

 and narrowly edged or margined with whitish ; wings, 

 mainly chestnut ; chin and throat, pale buff or buffy 

 whitish ; chest, sides, and flanks, deeper buffy streaked 

 with blackish ; abdomen, whitish. Young : Above, dull 



See Color Plate 8i 



brownish-buffy, streaked and spotted with black ; be- 

 neath, light buff, the sides streaked with dusky. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In old clearings, pasture 

 lands, or fresh water meadows, on the ground under a 

 clump of grass; built of grass, lined with fine blades 

 and some horse- or cow-hair. Eggs : 4 or 5, pale 

 greenish or grayish white, heavily spotted and blotched 

 with shades of brown and lavender. 



Distribution. — Eastern United States, west to edge 

 of Great Plains, north to New Hampshire, New York, 

 Ontario, Minnesota, etc.; breeding south at least to 

 38° ; wintering from about the same latitude to 

 southern Florida and Texas. 



Henslow's Sparrow never will be a very popu- 

 lar bird. It is only a plain striped Sparrow, its 

 song is quite insignificant, its breeding home is 

 within inaccessible wet meadows, and it is very 

 retiring. It is really not so very rare in 

 southern New Jersey and Maryland and across 

 the weedy prairies of southern Indiana and Illi- 

 nois. In many parts of northern Missouri and 

 across Iowa to southern Minnesota, it is actually 

 common. It may not be as rare as has been 

 supposed in the northern part of its range, that 

 is, in the northeastern States and southern Can- 

 ada ; but only a keen ear will notice the explosive 

 Chc-sUck notes far off in the weeds or marsh 



tussocks. The song as written bv P. L. Jotiy is 

 sis-r-r-rit-srif-srif. and this is as easily tin- 

 noticed as in that of the Grasshopper Sparrow 

 that sings its summery lay in the hearing of 

 thousands of people who never hear it at all, be- 

 cause a little distance makes the notes just the 

 simple buzz of spring and suminer. The aggres- 

 sive bird student, however, who sees and hears 

 everything, has made an acquaintance of this 

 little brown .Sparrow with its pale olive-green 

 head. 



In the winter Henslow's Sparrows are found 

 most commonly throughout the south in the 

 broom sedge of the dry fields. As tliese fields 



HENSLOW'S SPARROW (J nat. size) 



But few bird lovers know this plain striped 

 Sparrow 



Courtesy of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 





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